Identitat hidrològica

Potser sóc europeu o potser sóc africà, potser sóc occidental o potser sóc oriental, però del que estic segur és que sóc mediterrani. Aquest mar que a la vegada són molts mars i molts pobles és també a la vegada una frontera i un pont. Reivindicant la identitat mediterrània es potencia la seva funció de pont, la que uneix. La que uneix els pobles mediterranis però que al mateix temps uneix nord i sud, uneix Europa, l’Islam i Israel, l’est i l’oest. El Mediterrani va ser el centre del nostre món conegut durant molts segles, i el seu fons marí recull nombrosos testimonis de tota una història humana. Però aquesta història amaga des d’àmfores de vi fins a pasteres on desenes de persones han perdut la vida intentant travessar un mar que molt sovint s’ha entès com a trinxera. A Catalunya hem mirat molt cap el nord, i potser massa poc cap al sud. Hem après l’anglès, el francès i l’alemany a les escoles, però mai l’àrab o el berber. Hem obert i trencat les fronteres amb el nord però hem refermat i militaritzat les que tenim amb el sud. Hem obert hotels i restaurants als visitants del nord, i camps de reclusió i presons als visitants del sud. És hora de recordar que a més d’europeus, occidentals i catalans, també som mediterranis.

I may be European or I may be African, I may be Western or I may be Eastern, but what I am sure of is that I am Mediterranean. This sea, which at the same time is made up of several seas and a several peoples, is also a border and a bridge. By claiming our Mediterranean identity we strengthen its function as bridge, the one that joins us. It is the one that joins the Mediterranean peoples but also the North and the South, the one that joins Europe, Islam and Israel, the East and the West. The Mediterranean was the centre of our known world for many centuries, and its seabed contains examples which span human history. But this history is as much about long lost amphorae of wine and stories of boats where tens of people have lost their lives trying to cross a sea that very often has been understood as a trench. In Catalonia we have very often looked to the north, and maybe often too little to the south. We have learnt English, French and German at school, but never Arabic or Berber. We have opened and broken the borders with the north, but strengthened and militarised the ones we have with the south. We have opened our hotels and restaurants to the visitors from the north, and confinement fields and prisons to the visitors from the south. It is time to remember that apart from European, Western and Catalan, we are also Mediterranean.